• Work to Resume on Route 44 and New Firehouse

    Warmer temps ensure concrete quality By Avice Meehan Two significant Norfolk projects that were put on hold because of below-zero temperatures this winter are expected to resume by mid-March: Reconstruction of two retaining walls along Route 44 and the construction of a new firehouse for the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department. Engineers for the state Department […]

  • Richard Byrne Retires as Active Firefighter

    After 58 years, veteran status By Joseph Kelly He was a young Navy veteran, about to be married and ready to start a family in his hometown when, in February 1968, his older brother convinced him to join the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD). For Richard Byrne it was the start of an association that […]

  • Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus Will Benefit Local Food Banks

    Three Grammy nominees to perform at Infinity Hall By Colleen Gundlach On April 11, Infinity Hall will be the setting for Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus, a concert that will benefit Stock the Shelves, an outreach of United Way of Northwestern Connecticut. The Rock ‘n Roll House Party Circus will feature three Grammy nominees […]

  • Rom-Com Curling Film Released With Olympics

    To get the ice just right, filmmakers tapped Norfolk expertise By Joseph Kelly The underdogs who battle the odds—the washed-up boxer, the outclassed football team, the aging baseball slugger with one last homerun in him—are all Hollywood standbys. Ronald Reagan may be remembered as much for “win one for the Gipper” as he is for […]

  • How Botelle (Carefully) Uses AI for Learning

    By Avice Meehan For more than three decades, children visited the fictional town of Frog Creek, Penn., home to two children named Jack and Annie. With the help of a magic tree house, the pair are whisked away to distant places where they have adventures, solve problems and, perhaps, learn a thing or two. Like […]

  • Choral Singing Meets Bluegrass

    LCCU welcomes all ages to sing new styles By Andra Moss The Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) is entering its 127th concert year with decidedly youthful energy. Under the direction of Music Director Dr. Gabriel Löfvall, the LCCU will convene a youth choral festival in Norfolk in late spring; offer a series of choral seminars […]

  • Winter Weekend In Norfolk

    It was a cold and blustery weekend, but that didn’t stop the hardy from coming out on Feb. 21 and 22 for Winter WIN, the weekend for enjoying all things Norfolk in the winter season. The photos below show a story of a town that came together to strut its stuff for the world to […]

  • From Freeze to Flow: Extreme Temps and the Maple Syrup Season

    Reaching that ideal mix of natural conditions By Jude Mead The extreme cold and heavy snowfall this season has raised some concern among maple syrup producers. Reports of loud, cracking noises in wooded areas have set the stage for a phenomenon called “frost cracking.” During these periods of intense cold, the water and sap inside […]

  • Sit Right Back and You’ll Hear a Tale

    With Jude Mead at the guitar and with great enthusiasm, members of the Isabella Eldridge Club defied a threatened winter storm and entered Battell Chapel on Feb. 10 for a memorable performance of an episode of “Gilligan’s Island,” a daft 1960s television comedy. Despite the best efforts of the Professor (played by Marinell Crippen, left) […]

  • Cook For Goodness Sake

    America The Melting Pot By Linda Garrettson In celebration of the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, it seems appropriate to dedicate my food column this year to America, who we are, and what we eat. Get ready for some history lessons, and perhaps surprises that might enlighten you to what we call American […]

  • Be Careful, Very Careful

    An expert team from the Glass Source Stained Glass Studio spent nearly six hours in cold mid-January weather care-fully removing a cathedral stained glass window from Battell Chapel at the United Church of Christ before transporting it to their studio in Seymour for restoration. In this photo, Michael Skrtic balances one section of the window […]

  • The Week that Was

    First, frigid temperatures forced the relocation of Norfolk’s valiant Post Office staff to Winsted because of scheduled asbestos remediation, leaving box holders temporarily puzzled. Then, the big snow arrived on Jan. 25 and 26. Estimates vary widely: Russell Russ reported the official tally at the Great Mountain Forest weather station as 15.2 inches, but others […]

Articles

The All-Volunteer Norfolk Lions Club Ambulance Service Is Always On Call

Help Whenever You Need It     By Ruth Melville The Lions Club is an international secular service organization founded in 1917. Their motto is “We Serve,” and it would be hard to find a better description of the Norfolk Lions Club. The Norfolk Lions Club is an invaluable organization that provides help to the […]

Norfolk Filmmaker’s “Bob and the Trees” Leads Off Series of Independent Films at the Norfolk Library

  By Ruth Melville “Bob and the Trees” is a film about a middle-aged logger in a rural town in western Massachusetts who struggles to make a living over the course of a harsh winter. Although fictional, the movie has the quiet attention to ordinary life of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. This fall, the film’s director, […]

Valentino Takes the Reins

Botelle School has a new principal   By Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo Lauren Valentino started her new job as principal of Botelle School on July 1. She was unanimously selected for the position by a search committee made up of Board of Education members, parents and teachers. Valentino is the fourth principal at Botelle in the […]

Fourth Annual Norfolk Car Show at New Venue

Yale in Norfolk opens their grounds to raise funds for Emergency Services   By Colleen Gundlach Vintage cars will line the austere campus of Yale in Norfolk and the sounds of music, laughter and fun will ring out as the Fourth Annual Norfolk Classic Community Car Show moves its venue to the Music Shed parking […]

Frequent Sightings of Bears This Summer Alarm and Intrigue Norfolk Residents

    By Jude Mead I am sitting at my deck on a quiet sunny afternoon. The birds are chirping. The breeze is light and warm. I am sipping fresh homemade lemonade. Suddenly, from around the corner of my house appears a large black bear that begins to climb the stairs toward my front door […]

Discover Norfolk Treasures “Hidden in Plain Sight” at the Historical Society

Exhibit Highlights Golden Age   By Leila Javitch “Hidden in Plain Sight” is the name of the current exhibition at the Norfolk Historical Society. That title also describes this treasure of a show. Everyone with any interest in Norfolk should see it before it closes in mid-October. The exhibition focuses on the artists, artisans and […]

Students at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Get Their Start in the GMF Woods

Summer Camp With a Purpose   By David Beers For three weeks every summer, the Yale Summer School of Art and Music is not the only university program in town. Few are aware that every August about 160 Yale forestry students are also in Norfolk, learning while tromping through Great Mountain Forest (GMF). These students […]

Stannard Sues Town Over Convenience Store

New public hearing to be held on August 29 at 6:30 p.m.   By Wiley Wood The town was served a summons on August 8 in a suit brought by Joseph Stannard against the Norfolk Planning and Zoning Commission. The suit appealed the commission’s recent approval of a site plan application for converting the building at […]

Levitations by Gil Eisner

Dormant for Three Years, Church Bells Ring Again

“Like a setting of opal and gold”   By Michael Kelly Whether in the garden admiring your horticultural handiwork, exiting the library with an armload of books or entering your car at the post office, you may suddenly hear a comforting sound trickling out of the sky reminding you of just where you are. After […]

Enhancing the Norfolk Food Pantry

As we are in the height of growing season, many local farms are overloaded with various types of produce—tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, greens, corn, etc. The farmers at Husky Meadows Farm on Doolittle Drive are no exception, and a major concern for them is making sure that all of this produce gets utilized by the […]

Planning and Zoning Approves Convenience Store and Deli Application

Community sends strong message of support at public hearing   By Wiley Wood Norfolk came a step closer to having a convenience store and deli at 6 Station Place when the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the site plan at a public hearing on July 19. “That was one of the biggest hurdles,” said […]